Endure my Adoring
by Shania Nowhere
Summary: The entire school has to write an essay about love, the winner will be printed in the school newspaper. Whose views on love will top the others? a bit of fluff for hopeless romantics


Writer's note: I don't own the series "Fruits Basket" or any of the characters, I just felt like writing some silly little bit of fluff to make a few fan girls go "awe!" and feel just a little bit happier about life and love, maybe someone will take to heart what the essay says…one can only hope.

Endure my adoring

By: Rachel Hajducko

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Sometimes the darkness is more inviting than the threat of a broken heart. The darkness will blind you, but a broken heart will destroy you.

"Alright, class, we have a group assignment for everyone to work on!" The room filled with groans and the teacher waved them off, "Now now, stop that! You haven't even heard what it is yet!"

"It's work, does it matter what it is?" Sohma Kyou complained, looking less than enthused to be forced into this assignment.

"Well I should hope it does matter! It's a school wide assignment and somewhat of a contest between the students. Everyone will write a 300 word minimum essay on love and your view on it. Now, you can take this any way you want but we expect you to at least try to share your opinions in a-hopefully-positive and thorough manner. Each essay will be read and scored on content, grammar, structure, and originality. 1st place will be awarded a place on the front page of the school newspaper as well as a 125 dollar cash prize." The kids murmured among themselves for a few minutes until one student raised his hand and said, "Teacher? Do we have to have our name printed or can we submit them anonymously?"

"Well, we'll need to know your name so we can award you but I guess you don't have to have your name posted in the paper if you don't want it to be." The teacher sighed, "If you're afraid of sounding too in touch with your feelings…" The girls giggled and the guy blushed, sinking down in his seat. Just then, the school bell rang and everyone started getting up to leave, clattering their desks and chatting loudly.

"This is so exciting! I can't wait to see the winning essay, I'm sure it'll be very good!" Honda Tohru said to her two best friends, Hanajima Saki and Uotani Arisa. Uotani tossed her blonde bangs to the side as she scoffed, "What? You're not gonna write something, Tohru-kun?"

"Oh, of course! But I would never win, I'm not that good of a writer!" Tohru rationalized, waving her hands about.

"Don't underestimate the power of love, Tohru-kun. Even Kyou-kun is capable of writing something heart-warming, I'm sure." Hanajima said quietly, her deep brown eyes locking onto the orange haired boy strolling along side them.

"What! Hell no, I'm not writing any stupid essay about love!" Kyou almost gagged on the last word, looking indignant as he stretched his left arm up, reaching behind his head with the other and grabbing his elbow.

"Awe, what's wrong, afraid we'll think you actually have a heart?" Uotani teased with a grin.

"Shutup, Yankee!" Kyou stormed off and left the girls to talk about him while he was gone.

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Love…some seek it, some know it, some adore it…while some loathe it with a passion. Love can make you do crazy things, well this is one person that has enough crazy stuff in their life to not need love's help.

"Yuki! Yuki! Did you hear about the essay?" The bubbly blonde half-German, Sohma Momiji, bounced up to the quiet class President, wrapping his arms around his waist.

"Uh…yes, I heard…" Sohma Yuki pushed the effeminate boy away, nervously tucking a lock of gray hair behind his ear.

"I'm gonna write one devoted to my love for you, Yuki-kun." Sohma Hatsuharu said, walking up behind his cousin and tugging on Yuki's sleeve.

"Yeah, you and half the girls in this school probably." Yuki sighed, stacking papers and cleaning up the student council room before heading home.

"You think so?" Momiji blinked his big blue eyes as he stared up at Yuki.

"Of course, he does have a fan club after all. Maybe Kyou-kun will get some essays in his name as well, he's almost as popular…go figure…" Haru glanced boredly over his shoulder as he heard some girls giggling and whispering as they went past.

"It doesn't really matter to me, those aren't the essays that will win. Remember that 50 of the score goes to originality and if 100 other essays are about me than, well…" Yuki put a few books into his backpack and closed it, swinging it over his shoulder and putting it on.

"Well, I'm going to write about you anyway, I can't think of anything else to say…" Haru mused as he followed Yuki out the door with Momiji close behind.

"I'm going to write about my love of candy!" Momiji chirped.

"I don't think that's what they had in mind, Momitchi." Haru glanced down at him as he clamped onto his arm and smiled up with a lollipop in his mouth.

"Are you two coming with us to lunch?" Yuki said over his shoulder to his cousins.

"Of course! Yay, I wanna eat with Tohruuuu!" Momiji sung.

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If it's so great to be in love, what must it be like to fall out of love? Is it really worth all the trouble and effort to get 'in love' if you're just going to end up heart broken in the end? Is the unknown amount of time before this fall really worth it?

"Let's go to the beach later!" Momiji cheered, the food caught in between his chopsticks going flying.

"We have that damn essay to write, we can't go to the beach, moron! And stop throwing your food around!" Kyou yelled, barely dodging the flying sushi roll.

"It does sound nice but…I have work after this." Tohru sighed, taking a bite of her meal.

"Me too. Maybe when school breaks, kiddo." Uotani said, slurping her ramen.

"Awe, but I'm bored." Momiji whined.

"Too bad, some people have lives." Kyou muttered before being jabbed with the ends of Uotani's chopsticks and cursing.

"I'll take the water hose to you, if that'll make you happy." Haru offered idly. Momiji surprisingly cheered and finished his meal.

"Ah, to be young again…" Uotani mulled over the past then said, "Well, I wasn't exactly ever like that when I was a kid…"

"And he's only a year younger, what are you talking about?" Kyou asked in confusion, smacking Momiji as he tried to steal an Onigiri from his meal.

"Hey, I think I know what I'm going to write about for my essay! I'm going to write about how I love my mom!" Tohru beamed, doing the victory sign.

"Good for you, Tohru-kun." Hanajima smiled softly, finishing her potato chips and crumpling the bag.

"What are you going to write about, Yuki?" Tohru asked.

"I'm not sure yet, I'll have to think about it." Yuki said shyly, stirring his rice around.

"I bet I know what Kyou will write about, he'll describe how much he loves hating Yuki!" Uotani laughed and the others joined in the laughter as Kyou quarreled with her, leaving his meal vulnerable to being stolen by Momiji.

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Love is basically a game that can take minutes or months to win. We all play it sometime in our life in solo or two-player mode, depending on if the other person is apt to join the battle. But unlike some games where you have infinite lives and chances to try again, when you fail love, it's game over. Please insert your two cents to play again.

"Have you seen Kyou-kun, Shigure-san?" Tohru stuck her head into Sohma Shigure's study and he looked over his chair at her.

"Don't think I have, I would have noticed an annoyingly loud boy tearing the house apart when he got home." Shigure commented.

"Oh…okay then, thank you." She started to leave when Shigure called out, "By the way, Tohru-kun, happy pre-birthday! I won't be in town when it comes around so I wanted to say that now."

"Oh, how did you know?" Tohru looked flustered as she blushed.

"A man knows about everything that goes on under his roof!" Shigure winked before going back to his 'work'. Tohru quietly closed the door and walked off to the kitchen to work on dinner. She found Kyou rummaging in the refrigerator and said, "Ah, there you are!" Kyou hit his head on the inside of the fridge and made Tohru cringe, slowly coming out and running the bump regretfully.

"Ugh, what is it?" He said, frowning and closing the door spitefully.

"I…uh…what do you want for dinner?" She smiled, trying to cheer him up a little.

"Why are you asking me? I'd be happy with some fish…"

"Then we shall have fish!" Tohru took off for the door saying, "I'll run out and buy some!"

"What! Wait, no! It-it's fine, just make whatever you want, I don't care." Kyou ran after her.

"But you want fish, I don't mind getting it." Tohru would have gotten out of the house if Kyou hadn't grabbed her arm and pulled her back. Looking startled, she stared at him as he said, "No!"

"Uh…um…" Kyou sighed and let her go, saying, "You're always doing things to make us happy, why don't you make what you want to eat?"

"Um…well…because I'm not the only one eating it."

"Well, neither am I! Just…make what you want, don't worry about it." He walked off to his room and left her to nervously go about making dinner, trying to make something everyone would like.

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I think when you love someone, you want to do everything you can to make him or her happy. You can count on them being oblivious of all the lengths you go through to please them, but don't be surprised if they notice the little things. It's always the little things that make the biggest impact.

"It's essay day! Did you write yours yet?" Momiji ran up to his friends waving the paper that contained his homework.

"Of course we did, it's too late to work on it now!" Kyou scolded, bopping Momiji on the head. While Momiji wailed, a warning came over the school intercom saying that essays were due in an hour.

"Better get that essay turned in or they won't count it!" Tohru said with a smile. Momiji nodded and ran off with Haru following behind at a normal pace.

"Aren't you going to turn in your paper, Kyou? Or didn't you write one?" Uotani goaded him.

"That's none of your damn business!" Kyou exclaimed, stalking off to class.

"Gosh, what's with him! I was just playing!" Uotani crossed her arms, looking indignant. Tohru stared after him with a worried look on her face.

"Kyou-kun…?" Tohru whispered.

"We'd better get to class, I think the bell rang while Momiji was crying." Hanajima stated, walking in the direction of her first class. The others followed suit.

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Maybe we're all trying too hard to catch love, I guess you could say many of our efforts to finding love is like taking a bazooka to go butterfly catching.

"So when do we find out who won the contest?" Uotani asked vacantly, leaning against the window and staring at the inside of her eyelids.

"When the papers come out tomorrow." Yuki answered, "The teacher in each class reads through all the essays submitted and scores them. Then the one with the highest score out of all the essays wins and if there's a tie, the essays are taken to the headmasters of the school and further judged. It's a long process really, I feel sorry for the teachers who have to read all of those essays…"

"Yeah, especially since they're all love letters to you." Kyou mocked with a smirk. Getting up, he yawned and said, "I'm going outside, it's stuffy in here." When Kyou was out of sight, Uotani turned to Tohru and said, "He's been acting odd all day, what's his problem? Did he have some bad food for breakfast? Not sleep well?"

"I don't know…" Tohru answered simply, pondering on what could be bothering him.

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I wish I could know of love but it's not possible, not for someone like me. I would probably end up using that bazooka, knowing my behavioral habits.

"The newspaper's out!"

"Who won! Was it me?"

"It doesn't say, it's anonymous."

"Must be a guy, so typical!"

"What does it say? Read it!" Teens chattered as they huddled around papers the next day to reach the winning essay. It read,

" Love: some seek it, some know it, some adore it, while some loathe it with a passion. Love can make you do crazy things; well, this is one person that has enough crazy stuff in their life to not need love's help. Sometimes the darkness is more inviting than the threat of a broken heart; the darkness will blind you, but a broken heart will destroy you. If it's so great to be in love, what must it be like to fall out of love? Is it really worth all the trouble and effort to get 'in love' if you're just going to end up heart broken in the end? Is the unknown amount of time before this fall really worth it?

When most people think of love, they think of people meeting in the rain to confess their undying devotion to each other, a chance run-in at the marketplace followed by a friendly chat, walking through the park on a sunny day full of flowers and happy things, but that's not always the case. Love can be pretty scary and for some people it doesn't come that easily, in some cases they have to fight for it. They might be the secret admirer types or maybe they're too shy to admit to their crush how they feel, in any case they won't be enjoying that fairytale romance so easily. When it comes down to it, love is basically a game that can take minutes or months to win. We all play it sometime in our life in solo or two-player mode, depending on if the other person is apt to join the battle. But unlike some games where you have infinite lives and chances to try again, when you fail love, it's game over. Please insert your two cents to play again.

I think when you love someone, you want to do everything you can to make him or her happy. You can count on them being oblivious of all the lengths you go through to please them, but don't be surprised if they notice the little things. It's always the little things that make the biggest impact. Maybe we don't do enough of the little things to get their attention, maybe we're all trying too hard to catch love. I guess you could say many of our efforts to finding love is like taking a bazooka to go butterfly catching. I wish I could know of love but it's not possible, not for someone like me. I would probably end up using that bazooka, knowing my behavioral habits.

In short, I think love is one of life's greatest challenges to either be pursued with all your heart or left alone lest you suffer the consequences. To fight for love constantly means to suffer and cry many a times when you don't succeed at first, but a true lover will get back up and keep trying even when the future seems bleak. Only the truly devoted and faithful win in the end, for those people I have nothing but admiration and pity. Hopefully, someday I will join the ranks of romance seekers and bear my own weapon of choice. When that day comes, I hope I remember to leave my bazooka at home."

"How…bleak…"

"And yet…how true…I wonder who wrote it?" A group of girls pondered over the author of the story, never to find out the source of such a heartfelt, honest view of love.

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Hopefully, someday I will join the ranks of romance seekers and bear my own weapon of choice.

Tohru walked into the house after work, tired from the long day of work and walking home alone. Dropping her purse and things by the door, she made her way to her room to change before making dinner. When she opened the door, she found a white balloon hanging in the middle of the room with a box tied to the bottom of it to weigh it down. On the balloon was drawn an arrow pointing to the box and saying "For Tohru".

"Oh my, what's this?" Tohru closed the door and walked over to the box, plopping down in front of it. She untied the balloon and gently pulled the plain brown wrapping paper off, pulling the lid off and peering into the box. Inside sat the softest, floppiest orange cat plushy she had ever seen with a roll of paper stuck under the collar. The collar, to her utter surprise, was a thin silver bracelet with a delicate pearl dangle on it. She gingerly freed the paper and unrolled it to find the very essay that was published in the newspaper, signed by the author saying, "P.S., don't tell anyone I wrote this…if Uotani found out, she'd never let it go. Happy birthday, Tohru." With a soft giggle, Tohru softly hugged the paper and whispered, "Thank you…my secret admirer."

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It's always the little things that make the biggest impact.

The End.


End file.
